• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.83-90
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• 2009

In order to analyze the consciousness of the general public toward wetland conservation issues, three hundred people, chosen to reflect a representative sample of the issues, including the general public and stakeholders of wetlands in Korea, were questioned for a one month period from September 5th, 2007. With regard to a question about the current level of wetland conservation in Korea, only 9.7 percent of the survey group answered that it has been adequately conserved. This suggests that there is a strong need to reform existing policies and management frameworks pertaining to wetland conservation. While the stakeholders recognized the public values derived from wetlands very well, 58.8 percent of the general public did not understand the values at all. This suggests that increased and systematic education and public relations programs for wetlands and their public values should be launched, especially for the general public. With regard to the effects brought about by levels of wetland conservation, 83.2 percent of the survey group answered that wetland conservation was very important for both the natural environment and development of Korea, while 63.5 percent of the group answered that it was very important for themselves and their family. Surprisingly, 85.1 percent of the survey group said a wetland should be conserved, even though there are no direct economic benefits from doing so. With all these survey results, the general public in Korea thinks that wetlands are an important and precious public asset which should be passed to the next generation.